Welcome to Merry Heart Moments!

Thank you for visiting Merry Heart Moments today! Our site is dedicated to helping believers and educators experience a deeper understanding of the things we have learned and have been charged with teaching others. It is our hope that you will be challenged in your faith and in your practice and that your service to those you teach is more rewarding.

(Merry Heart Moments is a division of Merry Heart Educational Consultants.)

Why a Merry Heart?

It has been said that a merry heart does good like a medicine, but what is a merry heart? The heart that I am referring to is more than the muscle inside your chest that is pumping blood throughout your body even as you are reading this. While that heart is vital to our physical well-being, it is our other “heart” that affects and impacts the lives of those around us. The heart, in this case, is often defined as the place where a person’s will, emotions, and desires reside. Those are pretty significant parts of who we are, and wouldn’t it be great if it were a happy place?

The Advent of Love

Advent is the four week period leading up to Christmas. As we have learned in the previous posts, Advent is a time of preparation, of reflection, of expectation, and for remembering. Advent should be a time of longing for the kingdom that is to come and a time of meditation and prayer. It is also a time of penance when we examine our hearts and address what we find there. During the first week of Advent, the focus is hope. Hope is the eager expectation for the fulfillment of

The Advent of Joy

As Christmas draws nearer, the level of excitement in children increases. As a former teacher, I can attest to this fact and having a full moon at the same time doesn’t help matters either. As adults, we can get excited about the holidays, too. We look forward to the decorations, the festive holiday events, time off from work, and the ready availability of cookies. As believers in Christ, we are also reminded of the true meaning of the holiday – the birth of Jesus, our Savior

Permission to Play

In any given year, teachers generally have about 180 days, which is only 36 weeks or 1,260 hours, to teach the state adopted standards to their students. While the mandates of NCLB and threats of not meeting AYP may be gone from current ESSA legislation, teachers and school administrators continue to face a myriad of pressures to ensure levels of student achievement continue to rise. With such a limited amount of time and high stakes assessments looming, expert teachers must

The Advent of Peace

This is the second installment of our four-part Advent series. Advent is the season of the year leading up to Christmas. which is the first advent of Christ. It is the four-week period preceding Christmas Day with each week focusing on a specific quality or attribute of our Christian faith. Celebration of Advent The celebration of Advent is multi-faceted and touches many areas of our lives. The Advent season serves as a reminder of what Christmas is truly all about. It celebr

Hidden Treasure: The Same Power

“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” Romans 8:11 If we can wrap our heads around what this verse means everything about this Christian life we are living would change dramatically. Sadly, so many people today – believers included – live defeated and desperate lives. They live lives of disappointment or are devastated by t

The Advent of Hope

The history and origin of Advent can be traced back to the early centuries of the Christian faith. It has developed over time to become the season that we know today and is celebrated by millions of Christians around the world. In the simplest terms, Advent is the season leading up to Christmas, which was the first advent of Christ. It is the four-week period preceding Christmas Day with each week focusing on a specific quality or characteristic of the holiday. Pope John Paul